A Cunning Plan

I have a cunning plan ......

"It's as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University." Baldrick from the Black Adder British TV series.

This last week has been a whirlwind of events. Guests staying, new guests arriving and playing musical beds as we move around to make room for everybody, my daughter's 5th birthday party, flying into Singapore to work for two days, and flying back to Bali to welcome a batch of new guests, a family of four flying in from the UK.

 

My mind has been flying around in all directions from: marketing our next Business NLP programme in Bali; preparing for and running coaching sessions; attending business meetings in Singapore; interviewing for a new business development role in our Singapore NoLimits team; setting up a new Executive Search division of NoLimits; to planning whether we have enough pillows, bedlinen, plates, glasses, knives and forks for our avalanche of guests; helping my daughters with their homework; organising party food, games and party bags for my daughter's birthday party and what are we going to feed all our guests with?! My mind could have easily exploded with such an overload of information.

The only way to navigate such busy times is to:

• Have an overall plan with actions and write it down.
• Follow the plan one step at a time.
• Enjoy the process rather than just focusing on the destination.
• Celebrate success.

I'm amazed at how easily these 4 simple steps worked for me on Saturday, the day of my daugther's 5th birthday party. As I was running such a tight ship, I found myself returning from the supermarket two hours before the party was due to start (I'm still getting used to how long it takes to get things done in Bali). At this stage, no food had been cooked, all the furniture needed moving around to accommodate for the onslaught of 4 and 5 year olds running around our home, and the schedule of party games still had to be agreed.

Luckily I had a cunning plan! I had already written down what we were going to eat for the party and my 9 year old daughter had written a list of party games, so all we needed was agreement, delegation of tasks and focus. My whole family had a role to play. We all agreed our plan of action and had completed all our tasks within half an hour of our first party guests arriving. Apart from a few glass breakages, the party ran smoothly. We enjoyed the process and celebrated our success as a family by sitting down after the party to watch 'Alvin and the Chipmunks 2'!

As the famous proverb says: "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

What can you plan to ensure you're not drowning in the 'busy-ness' of everyday life?

What can a cunning plan do for you?

Janet